A government appointed panel which looked into the aborted sell-off of the UK’s forests will today reveal that the government had massively undervalued the publicly owned forests. In what will be seen as yet another blow to the coalitions now ridiculous claim that they were to be the ‘greenest government ever’, the report points out that the relatively small cost of maintaining the forests, estimated to be around £20 million per year, is nothing when compared with the benefits the forests provide to the public. Indeed the report suggests that the social benefits of the forests alone could be put in the region of between one and two billion pounds, something that the forestry proposal had overlooked.
Tories to be ‘Greenest Government Ever’. Not.
Australia to Create World’s Largest Marine Reserve
Australia has recently announced plans to create the world’s largest marine reserve, encompassing 990,000 square kilometres and to be located in the Coral Sea starting at the eastern end of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It will begin at 60km out from the shore and will then extend as far as 1100 km from the Barrier Reef to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Within the park more than 507,000 square kilometres will be designated as ‘no take’ meaning that fishing of any kind will be banned. At the moment only 1% of the area is protected despite being recognised as both a historical site and as home to an incredible variety of marine life including tuna, sharks and numerous other endangered creatures. In addition the shallow reef systems contain incredible tropical ecosystems packed with sea stars, nautilus, hundreds of thousands of different fish communities as well as soft and hard corals, algae and sponges. The area also features numerous uninhabited islands that host essential nesting sites for seabirds and turtles.
Solar Will Be Cheaper than Coal by 2013
It has recently been calculated by the European Photovoltaic Industry Association that the rapidly decreasing costs of pv panels will soon lead to a cost parity between solar pv panels and traditional energy sources by the year 2020. Even better, the EPIA also estimate that energy produced by pv solar panels will cost the same amount of money as power produced from conventional means by as early as 2013 in many nations across the EU.
The Daily Lime Returns
After a long and lazy absence the Daily Lime will once again go live tomorrow. Bringing you green news with added zest – clean tech and clean clothes (not dreadlocks and tie dye like some other green blogs), check out the Daily Lime every day.